Need help getting my pool right for birthday party this saturday

[walnut777]

thanks for the upgrade.
watermom. thanks for all your help. i did get the message last night I checked the chlorine levels and it was still high (dark yellow) from the 2 bags of sodium hypochorlite i threw in one during the day and one when it got dark last night. i added some some bleach, this morning its still cloudy. then i checked levels again still dark yellow. i figured well noone wants to swim in a cloudy pool so I threw in a quart of bleach this morning its 1 o'clock still no change. after seeing it this morning i figured we would just **** it down.
i had already rented a big blow up slide, i went and bought a slip and slide so they could have some fin in the water.
my moms neighbor has an inground pool and he is pretty skille at treating his pool and he said he has been battling cloudy water everytime he adds fresh water from the hose pipe. many people on facebook in my county have the same complaints. i know the county is battling an algae bloom in our lake where our water comes from. they obviously werent prepared for something like this. they claimed they installed some kind of filter that adds powdered carbon to the water to rid it of the stuff thats causing this.. well its not working.
this pool is going to be taken down in the winter. my friend has a 24 ft pool thats similar to an intex except he added a sand pump. its only 1 year old and he said I could have it for free because his wife wants a better abover ground with metal sides. so in the mean time im gonna get to work this week and learn how you guys do it and get the proper test kit.
thanks again for all your help

[Watermom]

You are welcome. Hope you have a fun party despite the pool not getting cleared up in time.

[walnut777]

thanks, we had a great time. despite the pool being cloudy all the kids got in and had a great time. one of the parents was good at reading the chemical levels. he tested it and everything was in a safe level.
the blow up slide and the slip n slide and trampoline kept the kids busy. good food and us guys ended up playing cornhole (beanbag game) up until after 11 pm.

[CarlD]

Amazing how when you come to the pool store with an algae problem and you have a vinyl pool, they INEVITABLY "recommend" (ie sell you) calcium--and then recommend using Cal-Hypo to chlorinate. Calcium is USELESS in a vinyl pool! And the Cal-hypo adds even MORE calcium that you don't need.

Now Cal-Hypo, used appropriately, is a fine product, and a good way to shock a pool that isn't already high in calcium. But it's irritating to us that pool stores CONSTANTLY push calcium to customers with algae problems when it cannot help at all.

[PoolDoc]

And the Cal-hypo adds even MORE calcium that you don't need.

Usually, but not always. I've got a couple of threads going, where I've mentioned that cal hypo can be used to REDUCE calcium levels. But it involves that whole 'tweaked pH', upstream of the skimmer dosing thing that I've danced around for years -- because it can be dangerous if chemicals get mixed up.

If you just dump it in the pool, per the label, yes, it usually raises calcium levels. (I suspect, but haven't tested, that it will LOWER calcium levels somewhat if you cloud the heck out of the pool, then push the pH up a bit and filter or vacuum the cloud out.)